Thoughts from the interface of science, religion, law and culture

After spending several years touring the country as a stand up comedian, Ed Brayton tired of explaining his jokes to small groups of dazed illiterates and turned to writing as the most common outlet for the voices in his head. He has appeared on the Rachel Maddow Show and the Thom Hartmann Show, and is almost certain that he is the only person ever to make fun of Chuck Norris on C-SPAN.

EVENTS

Paul Broun in the Senate?

Rep. Steve King isn’t the only serious House wingnut attempting to move up to the Senate. Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia, a charter member of the House Crackpot Caucus, is going to run for the Republican nomination to replace Sen. Saxby Chambliss in 2014:

Georgia GOP Rep. Paul Broun is expected to announce his candidacy for Senate Wednesday in the race to replace retiring Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

Broun, who represents Georgia’s 10th district, will hold a press conference Wednesday afternoon in Atlanta to announce his decision. Though he hasn’t officially said yet that he will enter the race, Broun is widely expected to do so. His wife, Niki, also said last week that her husband is planning to run.

Let’s go over some of his greatest hits. He’s the guy who said that evolution and the big bang were “lies from the pit of hell.” He was one of two legislators who voted for Allen West to be the new speaker of the House — after West was voted out of office. And just a week or so ago he said that Obama “upholds the Soviet constitution.” There are lots of people as batshit as him in the House, but we usually don’t let them into the Senate.

Comments

There are lots of people as batshit as him in the House, but we usually don’t let them into the Senate.

The times, they are a’ changin’.

Given that he’s running in Georgia in an off-year, I figure he’s got a pretty good shot, especially if the Georgia legislature gets the next-generation election engineering released to production in time.

Mr. Heath cites 27 PoG Senators, easily enough to dominate their caucus as the minority and enough to dominate as the majority even if all of the new Senators added to make up a majority are rational. Which, on its face, is profoundly disturbing.

The nagging question that must be asked, though, is how many of them are sincerely insane and how many are windsocks blowing with the current hot air from the Conservative Entertainment Complex? If all of the incoming Republican majority Senators were moderates, would the 27 wingnuts sense the change and trim their sails or would they mount the same kind of “rule or ruin” hard line that their colleagues in the House have?

Damn if I know — you don’t get into the Senate without a fair bit of acting ability (including the ability to fool yourself as necessary.) So far, those of us on the outside really can’t tell whether they’ve had to fight to impose their DeMint-style lockstep conformity on the rest of the Caucus or whether the other members have willingly collaborated. All in all, I’d rather never find out.

However, that’s still enough to dominate a 51-seat Republican majority. If the Majority applies the Senate equivalent of the Hastert Rule, they have complete control of what makes it to the floor, committee assignments, and in particular Presidential appointments.

Actually, I noted 26, not 27. I inadvertently listed Sen. Inhofe twice. Who can blame me?

The Cat: Why don’t we drop the defensive shields?

Kryten: A superlative suggestion, sir. With just two minor flaws. One, we don’t have any defensive shields. And two, we don’t have any defensive shields. Now I realise that technically speaking that’s only one flaw but I thought that it was such a big one that it was worth mentioning twice.

As long as the Regressives are a minority, it might be an advantage to get some extra-crazy moron into the senate. Lots of “entertaining” quotes, until the image of them as the stupid party finally percolates through the mainstream awareness.